1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a direction indicator (a turn signal lamp) for vehicles and, more particularly, to a compact direction indicator of a type effective to secure brightness and visibility during the blinking operation of the direction indicator.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, the conventional direction indicator used in vehicles, particularly in motorcycles includes, as shown in a schematic plan view of the front direction indicator in FIG. 6, a generally cup-shaped indicator body 20 opening forwardly of the vehicle and having a support arm 20a supported by the vehicle body structure, and a lens member 21 mounted on the indicator body 20 so as to cover the front opening of the indicator body 20. Within the interior of the direction indicator delimited between the indicator body 20 and the lens member 21, a reflector 24 is disposed as shown in FIG. 7, having a reflecting surface 24a positioned inwardly from the plane of the joint 23 between the indicator body 20 and the lens member 21 so as to be oriented forwards. A lamp 25 having a stem portion and a light emitting bulb 25a is accommodated inside the direction indicator so as to lie in a direction parallel to the longitudinal sense of the vehicle body structure. In this condition, the light emitting bulb 25a of the lamp 25 is positioned within an inner space S that is delimited between the reflector 24 and the lens member 21, while the stem portion of the lamp 25 is positioned rearwardly of the reflector 24 and within the indicator body 20. See, for example, the Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-20472 published in 1986.
It has, however, been found that in the direction indicator of the structure discussed above, the reflector 24 and the lamp 25 are supported so as to be oriented forwards, and the illuminating angle in which rays of light emitted from the lamp 25 are reflected by the reflector 24 is limited mainly to a region forwardly of the vehicle. Also, the appearance of the indicator body 20 combined with the lens member 21 represents, as shown in FIG. 6, a generally rectangular box-like configuration having a relatively large width in a direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal sense of the vehicle body structure and, hence, the conventional direction indicator of the kind now under discussion is relatively bulky in size.
In addition, the reflector 24 has no way other than being accommodated in the space rearwardly of the plane of the joint 23. In other words, the space where the reflector 24 can be placed is limited and, therefore, the width L of the reflecting surface 24a of the reflector 24 as measured in a direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal sense of the vehicle body structure cannot be increased, resulting in difficulty in increasing the efficiency of reflecting and collecting rays of light emitted from the lamp 25.